Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/405

 THE IN PRICE OF LAND THE PUNJAB' - H. CALVEBT, .se., .c.s. aasa OF CO-OXaW SOCrES, UB One o! the most conspicuons features in the econo- mic history of the Punjab has been the rapid and continuous rise in the price Under the Sikh regime, when paid for agricultural land. "the cultivator ploughed with a sword by his side and the Collector came for the revenue at the head of a regiment," land. except in the immediate neighborhood of big towns was practically unsaleable. Prior bo transfers were almost unknown and in the mutiny, some pars of have occurred security of. right and tenure, the Punjab embarked upon a, remarkable career of prosperity which has the province sales do not appear to before 1868. The Province, it will be remembered, was annexed in 1849. It was looked upon as a country of deserts and barren wastes and its addition to the empire was regarded as merely another burden upon the already depleted finances of the Government of India. With the introduction, however, of settled law and order, fixed moderate assessments, and